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Message: <blockquote data-quote="FormerlyHemlock" data-source="post: 6618498" data-attributes="member: 6787650">The warlock specialized in arcane combat is doing almost as much damage at medium-short range (90'), at the cost of a spell slot, as a fighter specialized in ranged combat. That doesn't really seem like a problem to me. Let's say they're fighting multiple CR 8 Frost Giants (AC 15). From the moment they get within 600', the fighter is doing 35.8 points of damage points of damage per turn. If he spends a spell slot on Magic Weapon that goes up to 40.7 points of damage. (A battlemaster could use Precise Strike instead of Magic Weapon, but let's keep this simple.) Now the warlock: since he's specialized in arcane combat, let's say he's got Eldritch Spear and Spell Sniper. Like the fighter, he will be firing as soon as they hit the 600' mark (both warlock and fighter want to kill them before they start chucking boulders). The warlock will be doing 24.45 points of damage per turn, and once he Hexes them that damage climbs to 32.1 per turn. If the warlock has Devil's Sight he can instead cast Darkness, which boosts his DPR to 30.35. Sure the warlock has other spells he can use instead (mostly short-ranged), but the fighter has Action Surge and a far superior AC, so it's a wash. (BTW, if the Rogue is hiding for advantage every round and took Sharpshooter, he is likewise doing 32.41 points of damage every round, comparable to the Warlock with Hex.)The key point here is that the fighter is in fact far better at doing damage at range, but the warlock is better at inflicting control effects if he pays for it (Knockback via Repelling Blast). The fighter is investing his fighting style (Archery) and one feat (Sharpshooter) to be able to do this, and optionally also his non-abjuration/evocation spell (Magic Weapon) if an Eldritch Knight; the warlock is investing two or three of his five invocations (Eldritch Spear, Agonizing Blast, possibly Devil's Sight, possibly Repelling Blast) and also a feat (Sharpshooter). You can argue about which one is getting the better deal--I'd say fighter, you'd say warlock but they're competitive with each other. If Agonizing Blast were nerfed this would cease to be the case and the fighter would be the hands-down winner, which I would view as regrettable. In that scenario, evokers would actually be better than nerfed warlocks at the ranged damage game, so you might as well go evoker and have good-but-not-as-good-as-fighter damage on a chassis that can also teleport, create undead/elemental minions, and chuck fireballs. Warlocks would lose their niche as the cantrip damage kings.</blockquote>

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